Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon | 
 enlarge | Author: Melissa Anelli
Creator: J.k. Rowling
Publisher: Pocket
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 3720
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416554955
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781416554950
ASIN: 1416554955
Publication Date: November 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Product Description:
***Featuring a Foreword by J.K. Rowling***
The Harry Potter Books Were Just the Beginning of the Story. . .
During the brief span of just one decade, hundreds of millions of perfectly ordinary people made history: they became the only ones who would remember what it was like when the Harry Potter saga was still unfinished. What it was like to seek out friends, families, online forums, fan fiction, and podcasts to get a fix between novels. When the death of a character was a hotter bet than the World Series. When the unfolding story of a boy wizard changed the way books are read for all time.
And as webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron, one of the most popular Harry Potter sites on the Internet, Melissa Anelli had a front row seat to it all. Whether it was helping Scholastic stop leaks and track down counterfeiters, hosting live PotterCasts at bookstores across the country, touring with the wizard rock band Harry and the Potters, or traveling to Edinburgh to interview J. K. Rowling personally, Melissa was at the center of the Harry Potter tornado, and nothing about her life would ever be the same.
The Harry Potter books are a triumph of the imagination that did far more than break sales records for all time. They restored the worlds sense of wonder, and took on a magical life of their own. Now the series has ended, but the story is not over. With remembrances from J. K. Rowlings editors, agents, publicists, fans, and Rowling herself, Melissa Anelli takes us on a personal journey through every aspect of the Harry Potter phenomenonfrom his very first spell to his lasting impact on the way we live and dream.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Anelli, A History January 5, 2009
For all the fanfare this book has gotten, I'm not entirely sure all of it is deserved. It is a lovely look back at how the Harry Potter fandom evolved and got to where it is today, but there are some issues I do have with the book. One of the things I noticed was that Melissa told the book like it was a novel, a fictional piece, filled with flowery description that I feel has no place in what is essential a memoir of sorts. The intent of the book is to retell the HP fandom, from start to finish. Melissa pulls this off artfully, but if her intent was to reach the general public, it was not accomplished. From start to finish, this book is full of name-dropping and in-jokes that just another Harry Potter fan would never understand. In this book, the BNFs (Big Name Fans) rule supreme. The other side of the fandom is never shown. It took 90 pages for the first mention of MuggleNet, and all future mentions (of which there were very few and only when absolutely necessary) were cold and snobby. The HPANA is mentioned only once, in the acknowledgements, the Lexicon once, nothing about the humongous controversy, and no mention at all of Veritaserum and other sites out there. The truth is, Melissa fails to mention the side that truly appeals to the general fan. I did not feel, after reading this book, like I was part of the phenomenon, although I know I was, because I read the books, I posted in the communities, I had just as much fun theorizing, but nope, I didn't own a fansite or publish JKR's books, so I clearly don't matter. Probably about 90% of the Harry Potter fans would fall in my boat, not Melissa's. Where is our story? It was a good read, I will not say I disliked it, but I just wish Melissa had shown us the entirety of the HP world, instead of her secluded, high-and-mighty part of it.
Rating: 3.5/5
 Not Exactly... January 3, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I agree with some of the other reviews in that, while I enjoyed "Harry, a History," it wasn't quite the book I was hoping for. This is very much a personal memoir, and perhaps should have been called "Harry & Me: My Own Personal Journey Through the Harry Potter Phenomenon." As such, to be honest, it's quite interesting. No one, after all, has had the ringside seat that Anelli has had these past ten years, and she provides fascinating detail into some of the HP world's more esoteric sides, particularly involving its obsessive fans. Personally, however, I'm far less interested in wizard rock, fan fiction and HP conventions (do we really need a whole chapter on each?), and would have loved more of JK Rowling and the genesis of the books. Hopefully this is something of which Rowling herself is going to write in future, as well as her inspirations and creative process. I would also have liked more information on the films, their casting process, the development of the screen plays etc. Again, perhaps this is a subject Steve Kloves and Warner Brothers will address sometime down the line, when the films have been completed. In any event, as a title "Harry, a History" is somewhat misleading. Don't get me wrong: For the avid HP fan, this is an invaluable source of interesting tidbits, and one gets a vicarious thrill following Anelli's journey from fan to fanatic to insider. She's a pretty good writer, and a friendly, humble presence throughout; she's very much "one of us," and never less than pleasant company. All in all, I enjoyed "Harry, a History" quite a bit..but it wasn't the comprehensive, encyclopedic analysis of the HP phenomenon for which I was hoping.
 Disappointing January 3, 2009
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, I only purchased this because Amazon suggested it when I purchased "The Tales of Beadle the Bard." It was a big waste of my time. A history of Harry Potter intrigued me because I love the books so much, but I expected much more material about J.K. Rowling and the history of writing the books. The author of this book has interviewed J.K. Rowling on several occasions, but there is very little in her book about those interviews, which was a big disappointment to me.
I would only recommend this book to those who are already familiar with the Harry Potter websites discussed in the book (The Leaky Cauldron, Sugar Quill, etc.). I had never visited a Harry Potter website prior to reading this book. I knew nothing about podcasts or "fanfiction" or "wizard rock." I did not know there were Harry Potter conventions.
It is pretty remarkable that the author of this book managed to make money from being a Harry Potter fan.
A Better Title Might Have Been "A Sycophant's Story" December 31, 2008
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Like The Lord of the Rings & Star Wars before it, the magical world of Harry Potter has conjured admirerers & detractors of all sorts. Most, of course, are content with the simple enjoyment provided by the books & subsequent films, defending or defiling them passionately as anything.
Others devote their time to continuing the stories of their favorite characters (of course, under the watchful & ever-litigious eyes of Rowling & WB) through fan fiction, critical essays or other written works. Another type of bystander to the Potter phenomenon is of course the "web master," those who have admirably devoted no small amount of their time & energy to bringing the Potter fan community news & information on their favorite subjects. People, whom in this Web 2.0 world, can create a web site & somehow be considered a "journalist."
An unfortunate byproduct of fandom is the tendency of certain people involved to acquire "fans" all of their own. Lemmings. Sycophants. There is no shortage of adjectives for this sort of person, who, sometimes through no fault of their own, is sought after by the larger fan community & considered "an insider." Some people might brush it all off with a laugh & recognize fandom for the silly thing it is. Others might write a book about it with dollar signs in their eyes.
Unfortunately, that's mostly what we have here. Usefulness of the web site run by the author aside, this book is nothing more than another case of someone hitching their wagon to Rowling's gravy train. No doubt there is a modicum of information here that may be of interest to Anelli's family & friends, but anyone truly interested in Potter would be better off spending their time in line for the next movie than reading this book. And yes, I'm well aware that film does not come out for several months. Anelli devotes far too much ink demonstrating her own inflated sense of self-importance. There is quite a lot of revisionist history at play, no doubt to placate Rowling, lawyers, etc., & not every cauldron is shiny at TLC.
For those content with being fans of fans, this might well be the book for you. For those with more ambitious reading interests, hold out for something better.
If nothing else, if this book sells, it'll prove even more how bankable anything can be with the Potter name attached.
wonderfull what a boy wizard can do. December 29, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The memories and bookmarks of a persons life are often linked to something or someone that truly mean the world to an individual. In Harry a history you follow Melissa Anelli Editor of the internet fanboy staple, the Leaky Couldren, through engaging stories that pull you in from the start, recanting her were abouts during recent historical landmarks and catastraphies(i.e. 9-11) and the true nature of the story behind the most popular boy wizard in recent history. Often world or local history, is just that a TV chanel surf ride, or TiVo enduced nightmare, but what Anelli does by pulling you in for a ride that she took and helps the reader identify with the wonderful world of Harry Potter. Defining the work of JK Rowlings can be a hard job and here you can see that Anelli didn't try she simply discribes the true meaning in her eyes, padded with great Harry history and facts and qoutes from Rowlings. This put the stories in which I loved in a great perspective; hers, Rowlings and there place in History. Enjoy.
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